(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oscillating lawn sprinkler of the type which is placed freely on the ground and connected with a water supply for watering lawns, gardens, or other cultivated areas.
(2) State of the Prior Art
Oscillating lawn sprinklers are basically made up of a pipe having a number of spray apertures or nozzles therein, the pipe being pivotally mounted on a sprinkler bearing block or body and driven to oscillate by the pressure of the water going into the sprinkler. The water is conducted through a turbine-type motor enclosed in a sealed compartment, the motor then driving the spray pipe. The bearing block usually has an elongated shape with the sealed compartment mounted on one of its ends. This sealed compartment is connected with the water supply source and also serves as a driving support for at least one end of the oscillating pipe. Furthermore, mechanical control devices are provided in the sealed compartment for adjusting the range of the oscillating sprinkler to cover a desired surface area to be watered.
The above-described type of sprinkler is known from, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,559,888, 4,245,786, and 4,721,248. However, these sprinklers have the drawback of having the controls for adjusting the surface area to be sprayed by the oscillating sprinkler located at an inconvenient point on the sprinkler. Indeed, these control devices are usually mounted on the inner side of the compartment containing the driving mechanism, i.e. the side of the compartment facing the spraying pipe, just below the end of the spraying pipe.
Consequently, each time the mechanical control device needs to be adjusted, a user must turn off the water supply, move the oscillating sprinkler to a more convenient position in which the mechanical control devices can be more easily seen and accessed, adjust the mechanical control devices, replace the sprinkler in position on the ground, and finally turn the water supply back on.
The considerable inconvenience of the required procedure outlined above is further aggravated by the fact that the water supply tap is usually at a location quite remote from the oscillating sprinkler itself, requiring the user to walk back and forth repeatedly between the water supply tap and the oscillating sprinkler.
A further drawback of this type of sprinkler is that it has no mechanism for adjusting the water delivery rate to the spray pipe. Consequently, a user of the oscillating sprinkler must rely solely on adjustment of the water supply tap to adjust the water delivery rate of the oscillating sprinkler.
Again, adjustments to the oscillating sprinkler are made particularly inconvenient if the water supply tap is situated remotely from the oscillating sprinkler, or if the oscillating sprinkler is in a location which cannot be seen from the water supply tap.
Sprinklers, in general, can also be connected to water supply sources other than drinking water supply sources. For example, a sprinkler could be supplied with water from an open irrigation canal through appropriate delivery pumps. When connected in this manner, a sprinkler requires a filtering device to retain therein any particulate contaminants and foreign material which may be delivered along with the water, and which might be likely to damage the turbine-like driving mechanism of the sprinkler. A filter or strainer is usually disposed in the flow stream by being inserted in the water supply hose, at the end of the hose which is connected with the water supply intake fitting of the oscillating sprinkler. A ring nut is typically used to retain the filter or strainer in the water supply hose.
The above arrangement of the filter or strainer, however, is quite inconvenient in that the arrangement makes it difficult to clean the filtering surface when the filtering surface becomes clogged. Indeed, the filter or strainer is frequently fixed in the end fitting of the water supply hose, so that, even where the filter or strainer can be removed, it will be necessary to disassemble the entire fitting in order to be able to clean the filtering surface.